ALBUM REVIEW: The Great Desolation – Wombbath

It would be fair to say that Sweden in the late 1980s/early 90s was a hotspot of death metal. The country produced a near endless tsunami of excellent death metal albums and bands, many carrying a signature “Swedish” sound that is still celebrated today. But with ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, GRAVE and UNLEASHED dominating the spotlight at the time, there is a plethora of bands that remained very underground, and albums that are, to this day, cult classics. WOMBBATH are one such band.

Lost in a sea of their countrymen playing a very similar style, they released their stellar debut album Internal Caustic Torments in 1993, before disbanding in 95. 25 years on from the release of their debut, and WOMBBATH are a force still to be reckoned with – though still very much an underground death metal band, their 2015 comeback album Downfall Rising and their series of split EPs with the likes of REVEL IN FLESH and OBSCURE INFINITY are of a quality that dwarfs their early work, and cements their place as a cult favourite. 2018 sees the Swedes release their third LP, The Great Desolation, and further establish themselves as one of underground death metal’s brightest bands.

From the opening second of The Great Desolation, WOMBBATH thrusts the listener into a sonic hellscape with Embrace Death. Immediately showcasing an instantly recognisable “Swedeath” sound, WOMBBATH deliver a punishing mix of buzzsaw riffing and soaring leads, though the latter is lost a tad in the mix. Taking the speed, but not the brutality, down a notch, The Great Desolation’s title track offers up a selection of melody-tinged, mid-paced stomp that brings the listener straight back to 1992. At the record’s midway point, WOMBBATH bring the dissonance with Punisher of Broken Oaths, creating an element of chaos in the dark, crushing heaviness. A short but sweet highlight moment from the track is the gothic, organ-like synths that take centre-stage about half-way through the song.

Moving into the second half of The Great Desolation, The Weakest Flesh brings a classically Swedish death metal sound to the forefront again. The chaos of Punisher of Broken Oaths is put aside, in favour of a more traditional, melodic style of death metal butchery, complete with extra helpings of groove across the track. As the album nears its climax, The Great Desolation’s penultimate song, Hail The Obscene, is also its most ambitious – and a career highlight for WOMBBATH to boot. A soft but sinister melodic intro leads the song in, but it doesn’t take long before WOMBBATH do what they do best; deliver skull-crushing, melody-tinged death metal with unrelenting speed and unstoppable groove in equal measure.

The Great Desolation has only one drawback, the production. There is a lot to be said for a raw sound, particularly in death metal – the rawness and cold production value adds to the atmosphere, making the music sound more evil and sinister. However, with The Great Desolation, the production isn’t raw so much as it’s muddy. The quintessential buzzsaw style of riffing in Swedish death metal is a touch too dominant, leaving the vocals and bursts of lead guitar choked and struggling to find the spotlight. It certainly doesn’t sound bad, as such, but its unfortunate that so much of the brilliant song-writing on display is masked by the rough, swampy production. It could be argued that the production here adds to the hellish, brutalising atmosphere of the record as a whole, which is a valid point, but a touch more clarity would have gone a long way.

The production issues aside, The Great Desolation is another brilliant addition to WOMBBATH‘s discography. Though it lacks the immediately classic feel of Downfall Rising, The Great Desolation is a necessary listen for any death metal fan. Oppressive, dark, and crushing with modest touches of melody to give a moment of respire from the aural hellscape this record creates, WOMBBATH have maintained their status as one of the most interesting old-school death metal revival bands in the game.

Rating: 8/10

The Great Desolation is out now via Soulseller Records.

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